Soon, you’ll know whether that food truck serving delish grub is also safe and sanitary.
Many mobile food businesses operating in Contra Costa County will now have to post the same color-coded signs as stationary restaurants in the county, informing the public of recent, major health code violations.
Today, Contra Costa Environmental Health (CCEH) unveiled its placarding program for mobile businesses that cook or prepare food for sale and also sell pre-packaged food that can be hazardous if improperly stored. They include catering trucks and carts selling prepared food such as hot dogs, tamales or coffee, the county said.
In the coming weeks, when a mobile food business receives its regular health inspection, a green, white, yellow, or red placard will be posted on the vehicle. Green means the inspector found no or minimal health violations at the most recent inspection; white is for permit holders waiting for their renewal or reopening after a closure; yellow indicates the business was able to fix major health violations during the last inspection, but would be visited again by the inspector; red is for businesses that are closed due to health violations such as vermin infestations, lack of potable water or operating without approved electrical power.
Mobile vendors that won’t need to post the placards are those that sell only prepackaged ice cream, whole, uncut produce or prepackaged food that is not likely to spoil.
CCEH began its placarding program in 2016 with stationary food permit holders such as restaurants and supermarkets. Learn more at here. To access a searchable database of health inspection results, go here.
